Protestors set up outside Camping World in support of flag
GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — The fight to keep the Camping World flag up in Greenville continues.
Four people stood in front of the flag on Evans Street with signs in support of the Camping World flag.
Just last week, the Greenville City Council voted to file a civil action against Camping World. Now, people are showing their support with the company that is refusing to take the flag down.
'Being a retired Marine, this means so much to me, and so when I heard that the Greeneville, all of a sudden decided that they want to stop, you know, have them take it down or do a smaller one, that's not acceptable,' Marty Rebello said. 'I mean, you've got to have a lot of love and hope for this country, I mean it takes good care of us, and we need to take good care of it.'
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Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Marines on streets of L.A. bring peril, questions
After days of fiery protest against federal immigration raids, Los Angeles residents and officials braced for the arrival of hundreds of U.S. Marines on Tuesday in what some called an unprecedented and potentially explosive deployment of active-duty troops with hazy mission objectives. As Trump administration officials vowed to crack down on "rioters, looters and thugs," state local officials decried the mobilization of 700 troops from the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, calling it a clear violation of law and civility. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass even likened the deployment to "an experiment" that nobody asked to be a part of. According to the U.S. Northern Command, which oversees troops based in the United States, the Marines will join "seamlessly" with National Guard troops under "Task Force 51' — the military's designation of the Los Angeles forces. Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot told The Times on Tuesday that the troops are in Los Angeles only to defend federal property and federal personnel and do not have arrest power. "They are not law enforcement officers, and they do not have the authority to make arrests," Guillot said. "There are very unique situations where they could detain someone if detaining was necessary to defend, but they could only detain that person long enough to hand it off to a proper law enforcement official." 'We're very highly trained, professional and disciplined," he said. But military experts have raised practical concerns about the unclear parameters of the Marines' objective. They also warn that sending in Marines without a request from a governor — a highly unusual step that has not been made since the civil rights erain 1965 — could potentially inflame the situation. U.S. Marines are trained for overseas conflict zones, with deployments in recent decades in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. But the roles they play in those nations — including providing artillery support to coalition forces fighting against Islamic State militants and advising and training local security forces in Afghanistan — are quite different from what they might face as they confront American protesters in Los Angeles. 'Marines are trained to fight, that's the first thing they're trained to do," said Jennifer Kavanagh, director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, a military research group. "So I think you do have a little bit of mismatch in skills here.... "In a crisis, when they're forced to make a snap decision, do they have enough training and experience to make the one that de-escalates the situation rather than escalates it? I think that's a question mark.' President Trump told U.S. Army troops at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina on Tuesday — hours after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told congressional lawmakers that the mobilization of troops to Los Angeles to curtail protests would cost $134 million — that he deployed thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines "to protect federal law enforcement from the attacks of a vicious and violent mob." But city and state officials have repeatedly said that troops are not necessary to contain the protests. On Monday night, California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the deployment of Marines 'a blatant abuse of power' and filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the deployment. Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell warned that — 'absent clear coordination' — the prospect of Marines descending on Los Angeles 'presents a significant logistical and operational challenge for those of us charged with safeguarding this city.' It remains unclear exactly when and where Marines would arrive in Los Angeles. By Tuesday afternoon, a convoy of Marine vehicles from Twentynine Palms had arrived at Orange County's Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach under police escort. 'The Marines are on the base,' said Lt. Chris Hendrix of the Seal Beach Police Department. 'That started last night.' Northern Command confirmed only that members of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines had arrived in the Greater L.A. area, and declined to give specific information. It is rare for U.S. Marines to be sent to an American city. The last time they were deployed in the U.S. was after riots broke out in Los Angeles in 1992 after the acquittal of four LAPD officers who were recorded beating a Black motorist, Rodney G. King. Back then, President George H.W. Bush acted at the request of California Gov. Pete Wilson and Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley after what The Times described as 'three days of the worst urban unrest in Los Angeles history.' Deploying Marines to Los Angeles is not only a dramatic escalation of events, but also potentially illegal, according to Abigail Hall, a defense scholar and senior fellow at the Independent Institute, a nonprofit think tank based in Oakland. Bringing in the Marines to L.A., she said, violates the Posse Comitatus Act, an 1878 law enacted after the Civil War, which forbids active-duty federal forces to provide regular civilian law enforcement unless authorized by Congress or the president invokes the Insurrection Act. Trump has yet to invoke the Insurrection Act. 'I don't see any way that this is not a direct violation of the Posse Comitatus Act,' Hall said. 'We're not at war, we've not invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807 — and even if we did, that's what the National Guard is for. It's not what the Marines are for.' Gregory Magarian, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, said that deploying active-duty troops in a domestic law enforcement setting — without the request or even consent of the state and local officials — is 'just another step down a very dangerous road.' 'What are they going to use these troops for?' Magarian asked. 'In order to use the federal forces for law enforcement purposes, particularly the active-duty military, Trump would need to invoke the Insurrection Act. That's the next big line in the sand. If he invokes the Insurrection Act, that's worse. That's a really huge problem.' Kavanagh didn't comment on the deployment's legality but called it unprecedented in modern times, and worried that could make its mission and parameters unclear for troops. The last time the military was deployed without a governor's request or approval, military experts said, was to facilitate desegregation in Southern states during the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Kori Schake, senior fellow and director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, said the Trump administration appeared to be trying out a new way to get around the restrictions on domestic law enforcement by the American military. 'The authority the president is claiming is his constitutional authority under what's called the Take Care clause ... he's claiming the federal responsibility to protect federal agents and federal property operations. That authority has never been tested in court.' Such an approach, Schake said, was fraught with more than legal risk. 'If violence burgeons, tempers are running high, the Marines are armed, this could spiral out of control,' Schake said. The L.A. deployment, Kavanagh said, could be a jarring mission for Marines who signed up to go abroad and defend America's freedom — and instead are facing off with fellow citizens. 'Does everyone know the rules of engagement?' Kavanagh asked of the L.A. mission. 'Are they clear?' 'Military personnel are generally trained to respond to crises abroad and they're trained for offensive operations and engagement with the enemy, not necessarily crowd control or protest management," Kavanagh said. "So it would seem to me that unless there's a pressing need or a clear, demonstrated gap that local law enforcement can't fill — which, from my understanding, is not the case — then this is not the time for any type of military force to be called in." Of all the military branches, the Marines retain the youngest service member on average due to the intense physical nature of the training. Nearly three-quarters of active-duty enlisted members of the Marine Corps are 25 or younger, according to a 2022 Department of Defense report. The average age is 24, compared with 27 for the Army and 28 for the Air Force. Marines may be the youngest cohort in the military, Schake said, but they are also well trained in de-escalation tactics. 'The wars that the United States has been fighting for the last 25 years have required incredible discipline on the use of force by the military in Afghanistan and in Iraq in particular, so they are trained for de-escalating conflict,' Schake said. 'I think actually, it's quite possible they're better trained at de-escalation of violence than the police forces are.' Still, Schake said, she was less worried about violence than "creeping authoritarianism." 'The way the president, that Homeland secretary, the secretary of Defense, the White House press spokesman are talking is incendiary and reckless," Schake said. "They're calling the city of Los Angeles — where 1 in 40 Americans live — a hellscape, and everybody in the city a criminal. They're describing protests that are really peaceful as an insurrection. And that's a very reckless thing to do in a in a difficult situation." Times staff writers Hayley Smith and Christopher Buchanan contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
American Service Members Are Getting Real Sharing Their Thoughts On The Marines Being Sent Into LA
As the protests in Los Angeles against ICE continue, the Trump administration announced it would be sending in 2,000 additional National Guard soldiers as well as 700 active duty Marines. According to Reuters, they will "protect federal personnel and property" as the administration carries out "even more operations to round up suspected immigration violators." Governor Gavin Newsom has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, claiming that the president did not have the legal authority to call in the National Guard, as well as requested a temporary restraining order to stop the use of the National Guard and active Marines "for law enforcement purposes." This is the first time that active duty military members have been called up to assist with law enforcement since 1992, and unsurprisingly, many of them (as well as veterans) have thoughts on the topic. NotSlayerOfDemons asked, "Those in the American Armed Forces, how do you feel about troops being used to quell unrest in-country?" and service members, both active and former, did not hold back in these 28 responses: 1."Former Army. Unrest is when the citizens are trying to send a message to the government. Using troops against your citizens is the government's way of not listening." —cobra7 2."Marine here. (Once a Marine, always.) Iraq vet. I definitely do not agree with using the Marines. Hopefully, they used MPs with riot training, but using infantry to do police work is not smart. It's like trying to use a trained attack dog to herd sheep. What do you think those teenagers are going to do when someone starts throwing rocks at them?" —Nevada_Lawyer 3."USAF veteran. We swear an oath to the Constitution. Not to any regime, party, or person." —chiksahlube 4."Trump is creating his Reichstag fire. Take the time to look this up if you aren't familiar with it." —RuralMNGuy (The Reichstag fire was a fire that burned down the Reichstag building, which housed the German parliament, in 1933. The origins of the fire remain unclear, but it became propaganda for Hitler's Nazi government, and he used it to issue the Reichstag Fire Decree, restricting free speech, freedom of the press, and allowing him to begin arresting members of the opposition parties.) 5."As a Marine vet, this fucking sucks. These kids are 18–22 years old and don't know shit about what the Constitution allows or what the Posse Comitatus Act is. They are taught enough not to harm an unarmed civilian, but decades of training for combating guerrilla warfare makes people jumpy. If protesters start throwing Molotov cocktails, or god forbid shooting, then shit gets real for these kids quick. I am afraid that if anything happens, it's going to put a black eye on the Corps that will never be forgotten by the American public." —Maikudono 6."As a vet, I will say it comes across as totalitarian. There is no reason to use active duty military against your own citizens. There's a great quote from Battlestar Galactica: 'The police and the military have always been separate for a reason. One serves and protects the people, the other fights enemies of the state. When the military does both, the enemies of the state tend to become the people.'" —Ok-Student7803 7."Army veteran and a SoCal native of 30 years here. Glad to see the president not allowing California to burn to the ground. Everyone knows the governor wasn't going to intervene." —ChinMuscle 8."Man, that makes me think of the saying 'When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.' That's the really scary part of having the military do the policing, isn't it?" —kkeiper1103 Related: "Honestly Speechless At How Evil This Is": 26 Brutal, Brutal, Brutal Political Tweets Of The Week 9."Telling soldiers to stand on the street with weapons drawn doesn't quell unrest. It provokes unrest." —timf3d 10."Honorably discharged Army veteran here (Gulf War era). I can say that I and my fellow vet friends think that these troop deployments are fucking terrible. Horrifying, actually." —PSadair 11."This is what the National Guard is for. Putting active duty military personnel on the streets of America to play policeman is a mistake." —RC10B5M 12."I served in the Marines, and I'm glad I don't have to sit there and think, 'Question the legality of this and get an NJP [Non-Judicial Punishment], or go and potentially be put in a situation where they'll have me on trial in The Hague in a few years…'" "Sooner or later, for everyone, the uniform comes off, and those guys are going to have a hell of a time integrating back into civilian society, even if they end up doing nothing while there." —Bureaucratic_Dick 13."I'm not active, but former military. I think it's wrong. It's an overreach on presidential power. Plus, it's hard enough getting the everyday American to support our troops these days without deploying them to attack our own civilians." —crash218579 Related: AOC's Viral Response About A Potential Presidential Run Has Everyone Watching, And I'm Honestly Living For It 14."Retired Marine here. There are units in the military trained for this. Active duty infantry units are not those units. They can say all they want that they are trained in de-escalation, but in reality, it's maybe one to two days of training a year and maybe some rapid last-minute refreshers as soon as they found out they were getting sent to LA. The bulk of their training and instincts are to destroy the enemy. This will not go well." —RonWill79 15."Former Army here — it's complete bullshit. Let law enforcement enforce the law, let the military do military operations. To be honest, they were waiting for any reason to do this because they want to 'send a message,' but the message that's sent isn't what they think it is. I feel sorry for those soldiers sleeping on the hard floor with no plan of provisions for water/food, not abroad in a war zone, but in downtown fucking LA." —mcstevied 16."Former Marine, from Los Angeles, from immigrant parents. Fuck this administration. I hope those troops remember their oath to the US Constitution and to the people of the nation. I'm so disappointed with this whole situation." —Tacos_and_Yut 17."I think following the orders of a 34-count felon who is responsible for attacking the Capitol of the USA is reprehensible. I sincerely regret my service to the USA and wish I could take it back. It will not happen again." —TheDwellingHeart 18."I don't support violent protests. I also don't support Marines being used to quell said protests. Marines are a tool you use to destroy an area or group of people, not to peacefully resolve it. The guard makes more sense here, but the best answer is just keeping it at the police level." —Well__shit 19."GWOT [Global War on Terrorism] veteran here. This shit is absolutely wack. The United States has used the National Guard MANY times throughout its history, albeit for civil unrest or not. The National Guard does an impeccable job at this, and to hear the National Guard is being utilized isn't too concerning." "The VERY large, stomach-churning moment is the president giving the green light to utilize 2/7 out of Twentynine Palms. These are not 'peacekeepers.' Their motto is fucking literally 'First to Fight.' They have a long history of intense combat operations from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, and GWOT. This is a highly decorated combat unit within the US military's arsenal. Pitting young, war-fighting men against the people they thought they were protecting is going to be a disastrous clusterfuck." —NSTalley 20."I support the National Guard being used to protect federal buildings and to quell riots and obstruction to the enforcement of federal law." —Bravelakes 21."Served in the Navy from '09–'13. The bulk of these guys have never deployed, which is a badge of honor. Young, untested 18–22 year olds with guns seems like a really bad idea to me." —anthonyajh 22."As a veteran I am pissed that I spent four years defending this country only to have some idiots vote for and support a Christo-fascist government and despite all evidence still believe this is going to be a 'good' thing." —MediocreDecking 23."Retired Navy here and also a former Marine. Sending an infantry battalion (2/7) to assist the LAPD and the National Guard is the wrong move. There are whole-ass battalions of military police who are specifically trained for this scenario. Why weren't they sent? Every active duty/veteran I know is against this." —Baker_Kat68 24."It's a complicated issue. Most service members take their oath to defend the Constitution seriously, which includes the rights of Americans to protest. Using the military for domestic unrest should be an absolute last resort, not the go-to option. We're trained to engage enemies, not fellow citizens." "Many of us feel deep discomfort at the idea of turning our training inward. Peace, order, and public safety are crucial, but so is trust between the people and their government! And nothing erodes that faster than boots on home soil in situations that call for dialogue, not force." —Emotional_Ticket_357 25."Marine here, many of the brothers and sisters I served with came from immigrant families and communities in LA or ones just like them. I'm sure there's a few Marines who are on board with this crap, but many are really struggling with this, I can guarantee you." —skamatiks671 26."Nobody likes the idea that this administration is attempting to politicize the military. It's awkward for us. The way the Secretary of Defense talks is vile, unprofessional, and embarrassing. Recruiting and retention will plummet." —220solitusma 27."It's an accident waiting to happen." —kozmo30 finally, "Real take, most of them don't particularly care and just want to do their job and go home, regardless of the situation. Marines are people and lean slightly right — so you do have people who are giddy about 'enforcing order' — but nobody wants to be dressed up in full kit in LA summer heat." —HerrArado What do you think? Let us know in the comments. Comments have been edited for length and clarity. Also in In the News: JD Vance Shared The Most Bizarre Tweet Of Him Serving "Food" As Donald Trump's Housewife Also in In the News: A NSFW Float Depicting Donald Trump's "MAGA" Penis Was Just Paraded Around Germany, And It' Also in In the News: This Senator's Clap Back Fully Gagged An MSNBC Anchor, And The Clip Is Going Viral
Los Angeles Times
4 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Marines on streets of L.A. bring peril, questions
After days of fiery protest against federal immigration raids, Los Angeles residents and officials braced for the arrival of hundreds of U.S. Marines on Tuesday in what some called an unprecedented and potentially explosive deployment of active-duty troops with hazy mission objectives. As Trump administration officials vowed to crack down on 'rioters, looters and thugs,' state local officials decried the mobilization of 700 troops from the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, calling it a clear violation of law and civility. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass even likened the deployment to 'an experiment' that nobody asked to be a part of. According to the U.S. Northern Command, which oversees troops based in the United States, the Marines will join 'seamlessly' with National Guard troops under 'Task Force 51' — the military's designation of the Los Angeles forces. Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot told The Times on Tuesday that the troops are in Los Angeles only to defend federal property and federal personnel and do not have arrest power. 'They are not law enforcement officers, and they do not have the authority to make arrests,' Guillot said. 'There are very unique situations where they could detain someone if detaining was necessary to defend, but they could only detain that person long enough to hand it off to a proper law enforcement official.' 'We're very highly trained, professional and disciplined,' he said. But military experts have raised practical concerns about the unclear parameters of the Marines' objective. They also warn that sending in Marines without a request from a governor — a highly unusual step that has not been made since the civil rights erain 1965 — could potentially inflame the situation. U.S. Marines are trained for overseas conflict zones, with deployments in recent decades in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. But the roles they play in those nations — including providing artillery support to coalition forces fighting against Islamic State militants and advising and training local security forces in Afghanistan — are quite different from what they might face as they confront American protesters in Los Angeles. 'Marines are trained to fight, that's the first thing they're trained to do,' said Jennifer Kavanagh, director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, a military research group. 'So I think you do have a little bit of mismatch in skills here.... 'In a crisis, when they're forced to make a snap decision, do they have enough training and experience to make the one that de-escalates the situation rather than escalates it? I think that's a question mark.' President Trump told U.S. Army troops at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina on Tuesday — hours after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told congressional lawmakers that the mobilization of troops to Los Angeles to curtail protests would cost $134 million — that he deployed thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines 'to protect federal law enforcement from the attacks of a vicious and violent mob.' But city and state officials have repeatedly said that troops are not necessary to contain the protests. On Monday night, California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the deployment of Marines 'a blatant abuse of power' and filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the deployment. Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell warned that — 'absent clear coordination' — the prospect of Marines descending on Los Angeles 'presents a significant logistical and operational challenge for those of us charged with safeguarding this city.' It remains unclear exactly when and where Marines would arrive in Los Angeles. By Tuesday afternoon, a convoy of Marine vehicles from Twentynine Palms had arrived at Orange County's Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach under police escort. 'The Marines are on the base,' said Lt. Chris Hendrix of the Seal Beach Police Department. 'That started last night.' Northern Command confirmed only that members of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines had arrived in the Greater L.A. area, and declined to give specific information. It is rare for U.S. Marines to be sent to an American city. The last time they were deployed in the U.S. was after riots broke out in Los Angeles in 1992 after the acquittal of four LAPD officers who were recorded beating a Black motorist, Rodney G. King. Back then, President George H.W. Bush acted at the request of California Gov. Pete Wilson and Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley after what The Times described as 'three days of the worst urban unrest in Los Angeles history.' Deploying Marines to Los Angeles is not only a dramatic escalation of events, but also potentially illegal, according to Abigail Hall, a defense scholar and senior fellow at the Independent Institute, a nonprofit think tank based in Oakland. Bringing in the Marines to L.A., she said, violates the Posse Comitatus Act, an 1878 law enacted after the Civil War, which forbids active-duty federal forces to provide regular civilian law enforcement unless authorized by Congress or the president invokes the Insurrection Act. Trump has yet to invoke the Insurrection Act. 'I don't see any way that this is not a direct violation of the Posse Comitatus Act,' Hall said. 'We're not at war, we've not invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807 — and even if we did, that's what the National Guard is for. It's not what the Marines are for.' Gregory Magarian, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, said that deploying active-duty troops in a domestic law enforcement setting — without the request or even consent of the state and local officials — is 'just another step down a very dangerous road.' 'What are they going to use these troops for?' Magarian asked. 'In order to use the federal forces for law enforcement purposes, particularly the active-duty military, Trump would need to invoke the Insurrection Act. That's the next big line in the sand. If he invokes the Insurrection Act, that's worse. That's a really huge problem.' Kavanagh didn't comment on the deployment's legality but called it unprecedented in modern times, and worried that could make its mission and parameters unclear for troops. The last time the military was deployed without a governor's request or approval, military experts said, was to facilitate desegregation in Southern states during the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Kori Schake, senior fellow and director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, said the Trump administration appeared to be trying out a new way to get around the restrictions on domestic law enforcement by the American military. 'The authority the president is claiming is his constitutional authority under what's called the Take Care clause ... he's claiming the federal responsibility to protect federal agents and federal property operations. That authority has never been tested in court.' Such an approach, Schake said, was fraught with more than legal risk. 'If violence burgeons, tempers are running high, the Marines are armed, this could spiral out of control,' Schake said. The L.A. deployment, Kavanagh said, could be a jarring mission for Marines who signed up to go abroad and defend America's freedom — and instead are facing off with fellow citizens. 'Does everyone know the rules of engagement?' Kavanagh asked of the L.A. mission. 'Are they clear?' 'Military personnel are generally trained to respond to crises abroad and they're trained for offensive operations and engagement with the enemy, not necessarily crowd control or protest management,' Kavanagh said. 'So it would seem to me that unless there's a pressing need or a clear, demonstrated gap that local law enforcement can't fill — which, from my understanding, is not the case — then this is not the time for any type of military force to be called in.' Of all the military branches, the Marines retain the youngest service member on average due to the intense physical nature of the training. Nearly three-quarters of active-duty enlisted members of the Marine Corps are 25 or younger, according to a 2022 Department of Defense report. The average age is 24, compared with 27 for the Army and 28 for the Air Force. Marines may be the youngest cohort in the military, Schake said, but they are also well trained in de-escalation tactics. 'The wars that the United States has been fighting for the last 25 years have required incredible discipline on the use of force by the military in Afghanistan and in Iraq in particular, so they are trained for de-escalating conflict,' Schake said. 'I think actually, it's quite possible they're better trained at de-escalation of violence than the police forces are.' Still, Schake said, she was less worried about violence than 'creeping authoritarianism.' 'The way the president, that Homeland secretary, the secretary of Defense, the White House press spokesman are talking is incendiary and reckless,' Schake said. 'They're calling the city of Los Angeles — where 1 in 40 Americans live — a hellscape, and everybody in the city a criminal. They're describing protests that are really peaceful as an insurrection. And that's a very reckless thing to do in a in a difficult situation.' Times staff writers Hayley Smith and Christopher Buchanan contributed to this report.
